


Sanity in Others

by Terion



Category: Vampyr (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don’t copy to another site, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fix-It, King Arthur's Blood, Mary Reid Lives, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25389553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terion/pseuds/Terion
Summary: In which Jonathan Reid seeks help from Elisabeth Ashbury to right one of his wrongs and ends up laying the baseline for something that lasts a mortal lifetime andmore.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21
Collections: Vampyr Discord 2nd Birthday Gift Exchange (2020)





	1. 1918, During the Skal Epidemic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SDSlanderson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SDSlanderson/gifts).



> Happy belated server birthday, SD!
> 
> The request for this gift was: Any combination between Jonathan, Geoffrey, Lady Ashbury and Mary. So I took all four and _sprinted_.

Elisabeth darted up from her chair in response to a frantic pounding at her door, her form blurring as she shadowstepped to it. For a moment she feared it might be her daughter in danger but once she opened the door, it was revealed to be the other person in her life that she was debating opening her heart to.   
  


“Jonathan?” she stated, her eyebrows rising at the disheveled state of him. The typically poised and put together doctor was gone, replaced with a man who was very much akin to the young and floundering Ekon she had saved in that warehouse only...was it truly only a week or so ago? His fine coat was torn in small gashes in places and was dirty, as if he had taken a roll in it through one of the more miserable little side streets in London that went without any sort of paving stone. Beneath that his tie was hanging loosely around his neck and his vest and jacket beneath were covered in the same dirt as his coat as well as hanging open to reveal his equally dirty white shirt.

And there were  _ handprints _ on his shirt, smeared in blood and dirt by all appearances. Little dashes of blood splashed elsewhere on his person as well but his clothing was so dark it almost blended in outside of the shirt.

There was a filthy, smeared handprint in blood on his cheek too...as if he had been slapped. Or as if someone had gripped his face in desperation.

_ No. Has he fallen? _

A glance at his eyes revealed he had not yet given in to the temptation of their kind. Not  _ yet _ . Elisabeth blinked, resettling herself, and reached out to him as she said, “My dear, you look to be in a  _ state _ . What happened?”

“I-I need you to come with me, my lady,” he replied, voice desperate and low...as if he were striving to not be overheard. “Please. You are the only one I could think to turn to in this.”

She paused her outreached hands, brow furrowed slightly, and softly stated, “Of course, my dear.” Elisabeth then looked down at her clothes, dressed down into a nightgown and shawl in preparation for the oncoming dawn. His gaze seemed to follow hers and when she looked up, his eyes were averted in embarrassment and there was a slight flush of blood across his cheeks.

How darling.

“Let me throw on a coat over this then and then we shall go,” she said quickly. Elisabeth then reached out to grasp one of his hands, tugging slightly in an attempt to get him to turn his face back to her. When he did, she looked into his haunted gaze and said, “Whatever has happened, I  _ will  _ help you, Jonathan.”

Those words seemed to still some of the fear and worry reflected in his eyes and he merely nodded in reply before murmuring, “I will wait for you then, my lady.” He then turned away from her, stepping away from the door, and she watched him for a long moment before she shut it. Taking in the weary slope of his shoulders as she did, the way it seemed a great weight had come down upon him in the course of only a few nights since she had last seen him.

What had occurred this night to make him so frantic? So fearful?

Hopefully soon she would have the answer.

Normally she did not use her abilities to move around her home but tonight she did, quickly jumping to the upstairs in a burst of shadow to go to her room. She abandoned the shawl on her bed and pulled out a long, heavy coat to pull on over her gown, fastening its clasps in quick motions. Slipping off her light house shoes, she pulled on a more sturdy pair and then swiftly returned to the downstairs in the same manner as how she had ascended. Taking the key from a table set near the door, she stepped out into the chill of the November night and locked the door behind her.

Elisabeth then turned as she pocketed it and tucked her arm through Jonathan’s, using her other hand to squeeze his arm in reassurance. “Come then,” she said gently. “Show me what you need help with.”

He looked so  _ lost _ when he looked at her but then he nodded slowly before murmuring, “We should move quickly. I am...well...I am afraid that she may not be there when we return.”

_ She? _

Removing her grip from his arm, Elisabeth stated, “Then let us hurry. Lead, Doctor, and I will follow.”

Jonathan’s pale eyes shone with fear and gratefulness and then his form blurred, gone in a burst of shadow. Hers followed and she kept pace with him as they travelled across her own somewhat polished neighborhood and then into Whitechapel, where the already ramshackle buildings of the district gave way to even more run down and worn looking ones as they travelled along the Old Road. Once they reached a point, she realized where they were going.

Stonebridge Cemetery.

No. No, it turned out their destination was not the cemetery itself but an abandoned home outside of it. Jonathan paused at the door, looking at her with an expression that was a mix of nervousness and  _ fear _ \- fear of  _ her _ ? fear of what was  _ within _ ? - before he opened the door and stepped inside.

“Mary?” he called out, sounding ever so uncertain, as she stepped inside behind him, shutting the door. “Mary, I...I have brought someone to help.”

Elisabeth frowned, trying to place the name, knowing she knew it, when a feminine voice  _ cackled _ half-madly from a dark corner of the rundown little apartment. As they turned towards the space, eyes reflected back at them, and even in the reflection she could see a hint of  _ madness _ .

“Oh,  _ dear brother _ , what can your sweet little lass with red hair d…” Abruptly that voice trailed off as those glowing eyes snapped to her and seemed to focus intently. Then whoever the voice was attached to laughed and said, “I should have guessed, Johnny, that your sweet lass was just like how you made me.  _ A dead thing. _ What can she do for me that you cannot do yourself? Will she wield the killing instrument instead since you refused me?”

“Mary,  _ please _ .” Jonathan’s voice trembled and the final note broke with a sort of harsh finality.

“Will she help fix this hole in my chest?  _ Will she, Johnny? _ ”

Abruptly the owner of the eyes rose from her hiding place and became a woman. Pale, slender, dressed in a fine black dress with lace arms that had obviously seen far better days as it was smudged with dirt and spotted with the dark stains of blood. There was blood, half dried and going tacky, across her right palm as she gestured broadly with it towards the both of them, the cold rage almost blazing out of her. At least that explained the hand print on Jonathan’s face.

As she stepped forward, finally out of shadow, Elisabeth realized who she was, who she  _ had _ to be. They looked so alike. Except where Jonathan clung to his humanity as if it was his only thing left, his sister had abandoned hers. That fact was as certain as the blood that stained her eyes.

Mary Reid pressed a hand to her chest as she moved towards her brother, her own expression an almost mockery of wounded. “Do you really think your sweet lass can fix this hole, brother?” she demanded harshly. “Do you think she can  _ fix me _ where you  _ failed _ ?”

His breath rattled as he inhaled sharply and then Jonathan bowed his head as he replied softly, “I can only hope she may try.  _ Please _ , Mary. I have already robbed you of life once, even if I was blinded to what I was doing I  _ will  _ take the blame for that. I cannot do it  _ twice. _ ”

“Oh,  _ poor brother _ ,” Mary hissed, her tone harsh and mocking. She then focused that mad gaze on Elisabeth and said, “Our Johnny was the golden child in the family, did you know that, sweet thing? Our  _ entertainer _ . He always had something to say when we were children and now what he has done to me has utterly robbed him of his tongue.”

“ _ Mary _ .”

“ _ Cease _ ,” she hissed in response. “Is it not enough to have your crying in my  _ head _ but to hear you in  _ person _ as well?” Mary Reid then straightened up, a sneer on her lips, and snarled, “If you refuse to fix the hole in my chest, brother, then take your lass and leave me. Or allow her to do what you refuse.”

Reaching out, Elisabeth gripped Jonathan’s arm and tugged him towards the door, her eyes never straying from the mad blue-on-red gaze of the younger Reid sibling. Once they were outside, she shut it firmly behind them as he slumped against the wall of the dingy little home, his face in his hands.

“She is your sister,” she stated flatly.

“Yes,” he replied in a voice choked with emotion. Jonathan then lowered his hands and looked at her as he went on, “I discovered a vampire stalking me during my investigations. Leaving...a trail of breadcrumbs one could say, though this trail was made of blood and bodies. When I followed it…” His voice trailed off as he turned his head to look at the nearby cemetery, gaze haunted. “She confronted me. We fought over her grave. She…”

His voice broke and Elisabeth reached out to rest her hand against his shoulder.

“She wished for me to kill her, my lady,” he breathed, voice quavering. “But I could not. Not a second time. Not even to free her from this torment.”

“And what is it you think I can help with, Jonathan?” she asked softly.

“I…”

Jonathan sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall behind him before he murmured, “I had hoped you might be able to speak to her. To convince her that there  _ is _ something more to this life. You have lived far longer than I, my lady, and I had hoped you might have some wisdom.”

What  _ faith _ this man had in her. Misplaced, perhaps, given that she did have the somewhat unsightly habit of killing patients at his own hospital in order to feed her own hunger. Her own past that he was unaware of also made her view of their existence...difficult.

Smiling bitterly, Elisabeth said, “You have quite an amount of faith in me for a man who only recently came into acquaintance with me.”

He just smiled weakly, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

“You are also the only other Ekon I know,” Jonathan quietly noted. “Who else was I to go to, my lady?”

With a sigh, she nodded then said, “I will attempt to help her but…” As she paused, Elisabeth gently squeezed his shoulder where her hand still rested before she continued on. “If she truly wishes to find the peace that comes with death, it would be cruel to stop her, Jonathan. You know this.”

“I wouldn’t,” he whispered. Then he looked up and there was pain and determination in his eyes and his tone hardened as he added, “Yet I will  _ not _ be her executioner. If that is what she wills, so be it, but I will not be  _ used _ if she does not have the determination to go through it herself. I will  _ not _ .”

Frowning, she asked, “Jonathan, do you believe she truly wishes to die?”   
  
“I cannot say, my lady,” he softly replied, hanging his head. “It...it has been a long time since I could declare that I knew my sister’s mind.”

Elisabeth pressed her lips together into a thin line before saying, “I will make an attempt, Jonathan. That is all I can promise.”

“That...that is enough.”

Nodding, she said, “Wait here then. I would speak with her alone.” She gently patted his shoulder before she let it go, opening the door to let herself back into the abandoned home. Mary Reid was still standing, no longer hidden in a dark corner, but her back was towards the door, eyes staring out a window as she crossed her arms over her midsection. Elisabeth slowly approached her and stopped halfway across the room, settling herself into a casual standing position there and waiting for the acknowledgment of the other woman.

For quite some time the other woman ignored her and then her shoulders slumped slightly and Mary stated, “You will not simply leave, will you?” without turning any part of her body towards Elisabeth. She then added in a more bitter tone, “I take it my dearest brother has asked for your aid in  _ helping me _ .”

“He has.”

“And are you so loyal to him that you intend to simply follow his lead?”

Elisabeth smiled slightly and replied, “You will find that I am not of the sort to follow any man blindly, my dear. As for your brother’s request, my part in it truly depends upon you yourself.”

“Me?”

At that, Mary did turn and there was something...softer about her face now. The madness was still there but there were also the harsh hints of sorrow and loss there. “What part could I have in my brother’s request?”

“Whether you decide to let me help you.”

“Help me, she says,” the other woman scoffed. “Help me  _ how _ , sweet lass? Will you help me forget my dear brother  _ killing me _ ? Forget the horror as I woke in the grave and dug myself out with my  _ fingers and teeth _ ? How can you  _ fill _ this hole in my chest?”

“I cannot,” Elisabeth replied calmly. “Only you can. As for the rest...no. No, Mary Reid, I cannot help you forget what has happened to you since that cruel night.” She then extended a hand, palm up, towards the woman, and stated firmly, “But I can perhaps help you deal with the aftermath of it.”

Those blue-on-red eyes flicked down to her hand and then back up, a look of confusion in them, and then her gaze hardened. “What do  _ you _ know of pain, sweet lass?” she hissed angrily.

Sighing, Elisabeth closed her eyes and - for the first time in a very long time - let the glamour that she usually oh so firmly held drop. When she reopened her eyes, the woman across from her visibly startled and she smiled.

Her own gaze now the same blue-on-red, she stated, “I know quite a great deal about pain, Mary Reid, and how to live with it.”

There was no reply from the other woman, just that wide-eyed stare, and then one of her hands rose and placed itself atop of Elisabeth’s.

“I was, perhaps, wrong,” the younger Reid softly began, “ _ you _ may be able to help me.”

Elisabeth just smiled in response.

“I shall certainly try.”


	2. 1919, 5 Months After the End of the Skal Epidemic

Geoffrey scowled and flicked the stub of the cigarette he’d been smoking away as he finally spotted the elusive figure of the leech appear again. It had been months since he’d seen the bastard skulking around the streets and now, in the past few weeks, he’d spotted him around Whitechapel more often than not. Obviously going  _ somewhere _ but previously Geoffrey hadn’t been able to follow because he had been stalking other prey that took precedence.

Actually  _ immediately dangerous _ prey, not  _ maybe dangerous _ like the leech. He could at least admit that more often than not the doctor wasn’t the type to leave a kill in the street like some of his kind.

Tonight, however, there was nothing on his schedule and he was going to pursue the leech doctor. Figure out where exactly the bastard was visiting apparently frequently in the area...and maybe get some bloody fucking answers about what had happened to him after their brawl at the top of the hospital.

Gritting his teeth against the sensations it brought with it, Geoffrey leapt after the leech in a burst of shadow. He kept his pursuit at a good distance, carefully timing his landings to come with the quietest whisper of shadow and his boots as possible, but stayed close enough that he could keep the doctor in sight. Reid took a largely circuitous route through the area - as if he was actively  _ trying _ to keep people from finding out where he was going - and finally ended up at the door of an upstairs apartment on a dead end street.

Geoffrey watched him from a crouch at the end of the street where it fed into the main street, peering around the corner of the building at him. Bastard almost looked  _ nervous _ waiting at the door. Like some young fool waiting nervously for his girl to poke her head out the door.

It was no young girl that opened the door, but another leech. This one was the redhead he’d been looking into more recently, the mysterious benefactor of the hospital herself: Lady Ashbury. He’d discovered her name after pawing through Swansea’s office one night while looking for any clue of where the hell Reid had gone before someone had cleaned out the former administrator’s effects. This, however, was the first time he had actually seen her since he had stumbled across the name months ago as the only Ashbury he had been able to hunt down was her supposed daughter.

She greeted Reid with a smile and then moved aside to let him into the apartment. He hesitated then stepped inside, almost looking like he was going to his own execution. Just what the hell was in that place?

As soon as the door shut behind them, he leapt up to the walkway that led towards the apartment and crept along it, careful not to alert the leeches to his presence. When he finally made it to the window, Geoffrey carefully peeked around it’s corner and his brow furrowed in confusion at what he saw inside the room.

Beneath the window was a table and a small kitchen immediately upon entering the apartment. Beyond that it connected directly with a seating area that was furnished with a small, ratty couch and two armchairs that were positioned around a fireplace. He could see an open doorway to the right that likely led to a bedroom but he brushed that observation aside.

There were  _ three _ leeches inside.

Reid was in one of the armchairs, his coat thrown over one arm, the back of his head and a knee all that Geoffrey could see of him now. What he  _ could _ see, however, was the pair on the couch. Ashbury was one of them and she held a teacup and saucer in her hands, lifting it to her face as if she would take a drink but only seemed to...sniff...at it.  _ Odd _ . The other woman next to her was dark-haired like Reid and looked oddly similar to the man, though her eyes were stained with the signs that said that she generally fed well.

Fuck, he needed to  _ hear _ .

Reaching out to the window, he grunted as he tried to lift it slowly but to no avail. Geoffrey then pulled out a knife that he kept on his belt for just in case situations and carefully threaded it beneath the edge of the window frame. One he had it in, he levered the window slowly up so as to not alert the other three to his presence and he listened.

“I…” Reid sounded so bloody nervous as he continued, “You...you look well, Mary. Better.”

“I am...better...brother,” came the slow reply and Geoffrey went still against the wall of the house.  _ Mary Reid? _ He’d come across the news of her death during his looking into the leech doctor and after some investigating of the details of where she had died, had concluded that Reid himself had been the one to do her in. Never had any confirmation that the bastard had killed his own sister, though, just assumptions. “Elisabeth has been a great deal of help in that.”

There was a chuckle from the other female voice in the room and Ashbury stated, “I did very little in the end. You are the one who chose to make the steps to move forward, Mary, and those were the most important ones to make.”

They lapsed into silence then for a long moment before Reid spoke up again.

“I admittedly did not expect you to want to see me so soon.”

There was a tense silence in response and then Mary replied, “I did not wish too. But I have been told that accepting what happened to me is important and that means that I required your presence, Johnny.”

Geoffrey peered around the window frame at that and saw the leech  _ flinch _ , turning his face away from the pair. Thanks to the back of the chair being fairly low for the man’s frame, he could see his face and the guilty expression on it was all too clear.

Bastard  _ had _ killed his own sister.

Reid swallowed and closed his eyes and he asked, “And what would you have me do, sister?”

“Ceasing the endless prattle in my head would be a fine thing, dear brother,” came Mary’s bitter snap in response. “It rattles about like your tin soldiers in their box except far more annoying. I tire of it.”

“I... _ I’m sorry. _ I have tried to figure out how to stop myself from doing so but I am rather unaware of how I am doing it. Lady Ashbury has attempted to walk me through it but it seems I am a terrible student in this.”

Abruptly a smirk played about Reid’s sister’s mouth. “You always were a terrible student when your heart was not in the effort, Johnny.”

The leech’s head snapped around then and he hissed, “I do  _ not _ want to continue tormenting you, Mary! I am being quite honest that I have tried a great deal to stop it.”

“And I attempt to  _ tease you _ , brother. As I used to.” The woman tilted her head slightly to the side as she shrugged before continuing, “Your pleading is...diminished...from what it was once in my head. Thus your efforts are not entirely in vain. That was  _ kinder _ , was it not?”

Geoffrey saw the woman turn towards the redhead then and Ashbury looked somewhere caught between amusement and annoyance. Lowering her cup into her lap, she softly replied, “Kinder, at the least, yes, Mary. That is progress.” She then looked at the man across from them, who appeared to have slumped into his chair from Geoffrey’s viewpoint outside of the apartment. “Jonathan, are you well?”

“No,” came the broken reply before the leech stood up. “I am...forgive me, ladies, but I must take my leave. There are...there are things I still need to deal with tonight and I fear I need to do so sooner than later after all.”

“You are running,” Mary Reid stated flatly, her expression cold.

Reid’s shoulders slumped and he softly replied, “I know better than to stay where I am little wanted. My lady. Sister. Good night.” With that he grabbed his coat and turned towards the door, causing Geoffrey to pull away. The last thing he saw besides the leech heading towards the door was the redhead rising to follow him to it before he shuffled back into the shadows along the walkway as quietly as he could.

Ashbury caught the leech at the door, her hand on his arm stopping his forward motion entirely as if the touch itself was an anchor. “Jonathan,” she said softly, barely loud enough that Geoffrey could still hear them, “You must give it time.” From her angle she couldn’t see Reid’s face but  _ he _ could and the expression on the man’s face was torn between want and disgust.

“With what we are,” he said quietly, “I have more than enough time to give her. Will there then be time to deal with my own pain and what I have suffered? In a year? Five? Ten?” Reid then stopped, closing his eyes, and added, “I apologize, Elisabeth. You are not responsible for my problems as well.”

“I give you all I can, Jonathan.”

“I know, my lady.”

The lady leech stepped closer to him and then rose up on her toes, kissing Reid on the cheek. As he watched the man’s cheeks color faintly, Geoffrey heard her softly say, “You are not alone, my dear. Remember that,” before she returned into the apartment. Reid stood outside of the door for quite some time before his form flickered and vanished, though he could be seen reappearing immediately on the main street.

Geoffrey watched the man for a long moment before he crept back to the window, peering briefly at the two women again. The redheaded leech was seated in the chair now, leaving the other on the couch alone. He was only looking through the window for a moment but he was shocked to find Mary Reid staring right at him. She merely smiled, looking at him with eyes that were nothing like her brother's, with purely the eyes of a  _ predator _ , and clearly mouthed the words  _ I see you, hunter. _

Slightly startled, he quickly shadow stepped away from the apartment, heading off in pursuit of Reid. He still had a conversation he intended to have with the leech...and doubly more of one now. And it did not take him long to find the man at all because he was not far down the street, leaning against a wall and doing what he honestly had never imagined seeing the supposed ‘good doctor’ doing: smoking.

This time he didn’t approach in stealth of any kind, instead appearing down the street outside of the leech’s eyesight and striding forward as if he were on a mission. “ _ You _ ,” he hissed angrily as Reid came into view but the vampire neither startled nor even seemed to bat an eye at the potential confrontation. No, the leech just continued to lean against the wall and have his smoke, looking utterly  _ bored _ .

Fucking bastard.

“Hello, McCullum,” the man finally greeted. “I expected to see you sooner.”

“Might have if I’d known you were back in town, leech. Got some questions I’ve been needing to ask you.”

Reid sighed and stubbed out the cigarette on one of the bricks of the wall he was leaning against before tucking the spent nub into a pocket. Christ, leech wouldn’t even throw a damned thing away. “And exactly what sort of questions do you still have, McCullum? I thought we had sorted out much of what was confusing about the details of the situation after our fight.”

Geoffrey just grinned and replied, “That was before I had  _ new _ questions, Reid.”

The leech sighed at that. “Very well. Out with it, McCullum.”

Frowning, Geoffrey narrowed his eyes at the man and asked, “First off, what happened with that bastard Swansea? My men scoured that theatre from top to bottom after you tore it apart and there wasn’t hide or hair left of him. He finally convince you to give him what he  _ really  _ wanted?”

Reid’s eyes lifted then to look at him but the cold rage in them was not what he had expected. He had assumed that the leech had turned the bastard because the body was gone but now he wasn’t so certain of that assumption.

“ _ My friend died _ ,” the leech spat venomously, “because of what your  _ Guard _ put him through. I was not going to leave his body behind for you and yours to potentially disrespect, no matter what ire I might have felt towards him in the end. And he neither deserved a second chance nor to face the true horrors of my kind.” Reid then let out a harsh breath before he pulled himself back together, becoming the calm facade of the doctor again. “Edgar Swansea and his ultimate fate is no longer your concern either way,  _ hunter _ . He is dead and he is gone and I will not allow you to do further harm to him.”

Geoffrey just looked at the man for a long moment before he shrugged, trying not to feel at least a little bit like a shit for the prod. Swansea had been a bastard but even  _ he _ felt a little bad about what had happened. Especially after Reid’s little outburst.

“Just had been curious to know what had happened to the bastard, leech. My lads hadn’t seen any activity out of his little ‘kingdom’ for a while, so we all were curious if he had holed up somewhere instead.”

“Even if he had, I wouldn’t have told  _ you. _ ”

There was sheer venom in that last word but Geoffrey ignored it, continuing on to his next question.

“So,” he drawled, “I take it your little mission to save the city worked. Given that the bloody Skals have finally gone back underground.”

“Yes,” Reid replied sharply. “Though I doubt you would believe what I had to fight in order to see it done. Nor truly care.”

Admittedly, he  _ was _ curious but he wasn’t going to pry about that. He had other things that needed answering. Shrugging, Geoffrey stated, “So long as it worked, don’t care about the details. What I  _ am _ curious about is that woman.”

Now the leech’s shoulders went tense and abruptly he watched the man’s entire  _ demeanor _ change. Like a shot, Reid went from the facade of the supposed good doctor on the outside to pure predator. There was that look in his eyes that Geoffrey had seen on so many leeches during his time - including the bastard’s own sister not a moment ago - and an aura about him that screamed of violence. Every inch of the man looked like he could explode into it at a moment’s notice and the hunter in him practically growled  _ There you are, finally. There’s the fucking monster I always knew was there. _

“ _ What. Woman? _ ” Reid’s voice was almost inhuman as he snarled the words.

Geoffrey turned his head and nodded back towards the apartment as he spoke with an easy drawl, “Back there with your pretty little redheaded friend.” He then smirked and couldn’t resist taking a jab at the man. “The one that  _ hates you _ .”

What he  _ didn’t _ expect was Reid to actually  _ get _ violent.

As soon as he finished speaking, the leech was on him in a blur of shadow and Geoffrey literally  _ had not expected it _ , so he wasn’t ready. His back hit the wall of the building behind him and he let out a grunt of pain before peering at the leech. Reid had his claws out, one buried into the wall behind him and the other pressed against his chest to push him further into it, and his fangs fully revealed. Added up with the hint of madness in his eyes, it was quite the picture of a leech losing itself.

Though Geoffrey knew full well that he had brought this one on himself.

“You don’t  _ touch her _ ,” Reid snarled in his face, close enough that he felt the breath exhaled by the other man. “You and your Guard  _ don’t even look at her. _ ”

“She’s a  _ killer _ , Reid. I saw her eyes. Tell me, what makes her special?”

“ _ She didn’t deserve this! _ ”

For a moment he expected to feel those claws in his flesh - and wouldn’t  _ that _ reveal some things - but both just caught him by the collar of his coat. Geoffrey felt his back pull away from the wall and then he was slammed roughly back into it, though quite a good few inches higher than he should have been. He could still touch the street with the tips of his shoes but Reid had him entirely off the ground in his rage.

“She didn’t  _ deserve _ this,” the leech repeated. “Not this life and not  _ me _ .” The man then frowned and then shook his head before he unceremoniously dropped Geoffrey back to the ground, stepping back away from him as the claws and fangs got neatly tucked away again. Reid seemed to have his shit back together again as he went on, “My sister may hate me now, hunter, but do not think that that means that I will not protect her from the likes of you. After all she has been through, she deserves what little joy she can get in this life and I will not let anyone take that from her.”

Geoffrey just arched an eyebrow as he straightened his coat and asked, “She going to be a problem for me or my lads?”

_ That _ seemed to startle the doctor and he blinked.

“I...no. Does that...McCullum, were you  _ baiting me _ ?”

Smirking, he replied, “I’ll let you figure that one out, leech. Now…” Geoffrey paused and dug into his pockets, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it between his cupped hands with the pack of matches he kept on him. As he took a long drag, he continued. “Last question, Reid, and then I’ll let you go along your merry way.”

The leech looked dubiously at him then nodded. “Very well. What  _ else _ do you have to inquire about, McCullum, that I have not already answered?”

“What happened to me?”

Reid frowned.

“Whatever do you mean, McCullum?”

Geoffrey just smiled grimly, resisting the urge to let those  _ fucking fangs _ in his mouth out, and replied harshly, “ _ Look at me, Reid. _ Really look with those bloody eyes of yours. Look at me like a fucking  _ leech _ would.”

There was a moment of utter confusion on the man’s face and then a slight shake of the head before there was a shift in those blue eyes. A  _ focus _ . He watched as a myriad of emotions went across the doctor’s face before it finally settled somewhere between resignation and disbelief.

“You…”

“ _ Explain _ ,” Geoffrey snarled and  _ this time _ he could not control the fangs from showing themselves.

“I am sorry, McCullum.”

“Don’t be fucking  _ sorry _ for me, you bastard! Explain to me how the fuck I went to sleep a few nights after our fight feeling like I wanted to die and woke up  _ like this _ .” He narrowed his eyes and spat, “Because I sure bloody would have killed myself if I’d known the little love bite you gave me during that fight was going to do this.”

He hadn’t expected those pale cheeks to color at the ‘love bite’ jibe when referring to the one time Reid had his fangs in him during that fight but Geoffrey ignored it. “Answer me, you bastard!”

The leech shook his head and replied, “From what I am aware of the..condition...it does not travel through mere bite, McCullum. Given that you have seemingly had no idea as to my whereabouts lately, I am not likely to be your maker. Otherwise you would have been haunted by my voice in your head as my sister has.”

“Then  _ what? _ ” he demanded even though the thought was already there. He just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Reid’s expression was that sort that all of his profession got when telling some poor fuck they were dying.

“McCullum,” he stated, voice low and gentle, “only the blood of two people was ingested during our battle. Neither of them were mine.”

Geoffrey curled his lip and snarled, “There’s no  _ fucking way _ that King Arthur was a  _ bloody leech! _ ”

“I discovered it while making use of it. My own maker confirmed it.”

Rattled,  _ shaken _ , and disgusted, he tried to take a step back as if to escape from the truth in front of him but there was nowhere to go. Only the wall at his back. Instead he scoffed, “Your  _ maker _ . Another leech liar!”

The leech just sighed and said, “Your Guard was a part of the Brotherhood once, McCullum. Surely knowledge of their awareness of the horned vampire was passed down to you.”

“That’s a bloody  _ myth _ , Reid!”

“So are  _ vampires _ to those who do not know of such things, McCullum. Believe me or not, he  _ is _ my maker. And he was also  _ King Arthur’s _ .”

Geoffrey waved a hand at that and snapped, “I’ve heard enough.  _ Enough bullshit, leech. _ ” Shoving himself away from the wall, he moved to stalk away back down the street but stopped as Reid’s voice trailed after him.

“Denial will only leave you in a worse place, McCullum, believe me. And I know I am not your first choice to speak of such things...but I am willing to lend an ear if you wish it.”

“ _ Fuck off! _ ” he shouted and whirled back towards the man but Reid was gone. It was just him...alone, shouting at shadows in the middle of a Whitechapel street in the dead of night. Scoffing, Geoffrey knocked the ash off the end of the cigarette he’d forgotten about and took a long drag from it. Bastard was full of shit, as usual.

Though the truth was staring him in the face as well.

He  _ was _ a fucking leech.

Tossing the cigarette down, he ground it under his heel then turned to leave. Only to find himself face to face with the predatory blue-on-red gaze of Mary Reid.

“ _ Christ _ ,” Geoffrey hissed, darting backwards, using the shadows through sheer instinct at her being so close. She laughed, high and  _ mad _ , and then smiled at him.

“Well, well,” she drawled, “I did not think it possible for someone to be as angry with my brother as I but you have proven me wrong, hunter. Shall we war for who has been more wounded by him, you or I?”

He wasn’t even going to  _ attempt _ to fight with Mary Reid over who had been hurt worse by her own brother.

“No,” Geoffrey replied firmly. “No, you win that one entirely.” His eyes then darted towards the apartment down the street and saw the redhead standing on the walkway outside of it, her form a shadow framed by the light coming through the open door. He then smirked and tilted his chin in that direction before asking, “Your keeper there let you off the leash to come bother me?”

Mary Reid just smiled that unnerving fucking smile at him before she answered, “If you believe that the sweet lass is merely my keeper, hunter, then your eyes are not as open as I thought they were.” She then tilted her head to the side slightly and asked, “Will you attempt to make us prey?”

Would he?

What point was there?

And didn’t he have bigger problems?

Scoffing, he replied, “You get to live for now, leech. I’ve got things I have to deal with before I get to you three, so you get a reprieve for a moment.” When she didn’t respond immediately, he looked towards the figure in the doorway and nodded slightly before he made to move past Mary Reid. Just before he got past her, one of those pale hands whipped out and grasped his wrist, bringing him to a stop.

Those blue-on-red eyes turned to look at him and for a moment he imagined that she was looking  _ through _ him at something underneath. For a moment the madness in those eyes faded and there was only a  _ woman _ there, full of sadness and loss and pain that there weren’t enough words for the whole of it.

“You cannot run from this, Geoffrey McCullum,” she muttered, “no more than I could. There is...sanity...in others.”

“Sanity?” he asked with an arched eyebrow.

She smiled softly. “I was all nightmare, no dream. A sickness that corrupted everything I touched.” Then Mary Reid turned her head back towards that apartment and his eyes followed towards the figure standing there as she continued, “I am still that but I am also myself still. As are you.”

Abruptly she turned fully towards him and he didn’t even have time to startle or pull away as she darted in to kiss his cheek before she seemed to dance away a few steps. Turning back towards him, she chuckled and opened her arms towards him, hands held out. “What you want cannot last, hunter. When it ends...we will be here.”

Geoffrey blinked at her as she turned away, watching blankly as she shadow stepped back to the apartment. Lady Ashbury at the door wrapped an arm around her and led her back inside...but he felt the stern touch of her gaze on him until the door shut firmly behind them.

What the  _ fuck _ was that?

Shaking his head, he pulled out another cigarette, ignoring the slight nervous shake to his hands as he lit it and started walking down the streets back towards the outpost. There were people waiting there for him to get back, people that were important to him.

He still had shit he had to see done.

  
After that...after that he’d deal with  _ them _ .


	3. 2020, More Than a Century Post Skal Epidemic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter deals _very vaguely_ with the current state of the world in 2020.
> 
> The variety of OCs in this chapter are the descendants of my OC, Mercy Hawk, who has been featured in several of my other Vampyr fics.

“You’re  _ late _ .”

Jonathan looked up at his sister standing above him on the balcony at the pronouncement as he entered the house and chuckled as he pulled off his scarf to hang it up alongside his coat. Even if he no longer needed the garment for warmth, appearances were important.

“You know I don’t keep normal hours anymore with how things are right now, Mary,” he replied calmly. “It’s calmed down a bit in the past two months but it’s still a horror. Like watching history repeat…”

Abruptly she was in front of him and thumped a fist firmly against his sternum to get his attention.

“None of  _ that _ ,” she scolded. Then she unfolded a finger and waggled it under his nose as she said, “And you have been slipping again, Johnny. Sometimes I hear you.”

“ _ Ah _ . I’m sorry.”

Mary scoffed at that and waved a hand. “No matter. It was simply annoying the last time it happened as you interrupted...well, if I told you, you might blush so prettily.”

Jonathan bristled and exclaimed, “For  _ fuck’s sake _ , Mary, I’m almost a century and a half years old now, I think by now I have gotten over any discomfort I may have had in the past with hearing that sort of thing spoken out loud. You do know that I sometimes have  _ patients _ tell me the details of their love lives?”

“Oh, so you  _ would  _ like to hear of how utterly I pleased our sweet lass while you were at work despite your interruption?”

“That doesn’t mean I  _ want _ to hear but I’m not going to  _ blush _ at it like a school boy!”

She laughed at that and the sound was bright and merry, filling the small entryway of the house with the sound. Almost like how she had laughed before their lives had fallen into such pain and disrepair just over a century ago. It still made him smile to hear her sound like that again even if it had been achieved many years ago now.

Tucking her arm into his, Mary pulled him further into the house, saying, “Come then, brother. We have plans that have been pushed back because of your lateness. It is not like we could simply begin without you, after all.”

“Honestly you  _ could _ have,” he muttered in reply as they made their way through the house towards the small dining room that typically went unused except occasionally as a temporary office when one thing or another spilled over from one of the actual work spaces in the house.

“And where would the fun in that be?”

Jonathan just shook his head and then smiled as he was greeted by a collection of young smiling faces looking back at him from one of the many computer monitors in the house that had been dragged in and hooked up to one of the laptops as they entered the dining room. “Hi, Uncle Jon!” chorused several of the younger voices from the multitude of live feeds and he chuckled at the sight of all of them, waving in greeting.

“Hello, Hawklings,” he greeted to the crowd of eager faces. Half of them had inherited the ash-blonde hair of their great-great grandmother but the rest were darker in hair color, though one of the blonde’s was admittedly currently dyed a stunning bright blue. He focused on that one in particular, asking, “Linda, how much screaming did you endure from your mother when you did that?”

One of the eldest of the great-great grandchildren chuckled and replied, “Mum actually took it better than expected.” She then slung her arm over her older brother’s neck, dragging him further into frame. “She was more pissed off when she found out that Eric had went and got himself a tattoo!”

“ _ Oi, bugger off! _ ”

“What did I say about  _ cursing _ on the call?” asked an older male voice from one of the other feeds as one of the great grandchildren leaned in over his own children, sitting wide eyed in chairs in front of their home computer.

“Sorry, Uncle Jacob,” came the half-muttered reply from the eldest great-great grandchild. “You know how Lin and I get sometimes.”

There was laughter from another feed, where another older man was sitting with a ten year-old boy. He said, “We’re aware, Eric, but do try to keep decorum around the children.”

“Sorry, Uncle Issac.”

“Well,” drawled a voice from behind Jonathan in the hallway he and Mary had just come through, “it’s not like the kids won’t bloody hear similar shit from me, lads.” He turned his head at that and smiled at Geoffrey as the man stepped up behind them, clapping a hand on each of their shoulders. The former hunter leaned in and kissed both of their cheeks in turn, grinning as he said, “Hello, my favorite Reids.”

“Your  _ only _ Reids,” Jonathan chided gently.

Geoffrey just smiled. “Well, that makes you extra special then, doesn’t it?” He then stepped away from them towards the monitor, rubbing his hands together as he look at all of the faces. “Now! Let me look at you lot! How are my lasses and lads?”

“Fine, Grandda!”

Jonathan just watched Geoffrey interacting with Mercy Hawk’s great-great grandchildren with a smile then leaned over slightly as Mary rose up on her toes to whisper in his ear. “Did you think that we would one day be here, brother? Yes, the world is a mess at this moment but...at least we have this.”

Clasping his hand over hers, he looked down at her and smiled.

“I once imagined we would never find happiness again,” he replied softly. His eyes then darted up as Elisabeth entered the room, her green eyes soft as they roved over the pair of them and Geoffrey as he listened to the excited tale coming from the youngest of the great-great grandchildren, Anne. Jonathan then looked back down at Mary, finishing, “I am glad to have been wrong.”

“The only time you have been glad to be wrong, Johnny,” she chided but the slight jab had no venom in it. Mary then stepped away from him, moving towards Geoffrey and resting a hand on his back as she said something to him in a low voice.

Smiling, Jonathan watched them until he felt another presence at his side, turning his head slightly to find Elisabeth there. He chuckled and said under his breath, “I heard that I interrupted earlier.”

“It was nothing that your sister did not take in stride,” the woman replied. “She has become quite good at doing so over the years when your voice slips back in. It no longer troubles her as it once did.”

“Good.”

Elisabeth then smirked and whispered, “But if you wish to make it up to me later, Jonathan, I would not be opposed.” As he turned to regard her with a definitely interested look, she smiled. “I take it you are also not opposed.”

He just smiled and lifted a hand to run it gently up and down her arm as he said, “It has been quite some time since I so enjoyed your company, my lady. I have missed you.”

“And I you. I also believe that your sister has her sights on a particularly different prey for this evening.”

Together they turned their heads to look at the pair standing in front of the monitor together now. Geoffrey had slung an arm around Mary’s waist, pulling her in close, and she still had one hand on his back, making nonsense patterns along the lower part of his spine. Jonathan chuckled at the sight, saying, “So she does. I believe he’s missed you both as well.”

“Well...we did pair off for quite a while. Though I will remember that he misses me as well...perhaps one evening we will both surprise him.”

“I think he would enjoy that.”

She started to open her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by Geoffrey loudly calling out, “Hey! Lovebirds! Get over here so we can do this.” At that, her expression turned to laughter and Elisabeth promptly dragged Jonathan over to the other two, where he was immediately grabbed by the former hunter in the same manner as his sister on the man’s other side.

As Jonathan pulled Elisabeth in next to him, he looked at Geoffrey as the man said, “Alright, here we all. All of us together finally. Now, Lin, lass, say whatever it is that you wanted this whole shit together for, the stress of waiting to know is starting to get to me.”

From the monitor, Linda laughed and swept her blue hair back before she held up a set of notecards. “Okay, okay,” she said, “keep your shirt on.” She then took a deep breath and began to read out from the cards.

“So here we are, one hundred years after everything seemed like it fell apart. After Grandda left the Guard, after Great-Great Grandma Hawk met Great-Great Grandda Eldy, and we’re still together. The years have been rough and there’s been sadness and loss and war...but there’s also been joy and happiness and we’ve stuck together, even though we’ve sometimes been kept apart by things. So here’s to our family and to a hundred more years.”

She then smiled into the camera on her end, tears visible at the corners of her eyes, and finished, “Happy one hundred, everyone.”

“And to one hundred more,” Jonathan echoed, looking at Geoffrey intently. The man looked like he didn’t know what to say in response to that and he braced his arm along the other man’s upper back, which seemed to jostle him back to reality. Geoffrey blinked several times then nodded towards the monitor.

“To a hundred more,” he murmured, though Jonathan could guess what he was thinking. That in a hundred more years it would be more  _ new _ faces looking back at them through probably even greater technology. Or maybe it wouldn’t be as technology was always improving and, despite everything, mortals  _ were _ living longer now.

Maybe someday a hundred years wouldn’t always mean saying goodbye to everyone they knew a hundred years before.

Clearing his throat, Jonathan said, “You all be safe now. Don’t do anything particularly foolish or stupid.”

“What about a  _ little _ stupid, Uncle Jon?” asked Samuel, Linda and Eric’s younger brother, who hadn’t spoken up really until now.

“Only so long as you don’t get into trouble!”

That brought laughter from everyone on the call and then goodbyes began to be said. There were jobs that had to be gotten to in some places and children that had to start getting ready for bed in others. One by one, the camera feeds winked out until all that was left of Linda, sitting there smiling at them over her clasped hands with tears in her eyes.

“Thank you, lass,” Geoffrey said with a warm smile. “I wish I’d gotten to talk with all of you for longer.”

“You can always call us separately, Grandda.”

“Then why do you look like I just beat the shit out of your favorite boyfriend?”

Linda laughed at that then sobered as she replied, “I was just thinking about what things will look like in another hundred years. How the family will change. How I may not even be here...but how all of you will. And it...it made me sad.”

Jonathan started to speak but Geoffrey beat him to it, saying, “Sure, it’s sad, lass, watching the people we care about die but that’s how the world works. And don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine.” The man turned his head left to look at Mary and then right to look at Jonathan and Elisabeth before he turned back to the monitor. “Your Great-Great Grandma sorted out a lot of my stubborn long before any of you lot came around. We have each other, same as you all do.”

“Yeah…” Linda said, smiling, “Yeah, you do. Goodnight, Grandda. I love you. I love you all too, Uncle Jon, Aunt Mary, Aunt Elisabeth.”

“And we you, my dear,” Elisabeth said softly. “Sleep well.”

Linda smiled and waved, then the feed went blank. Reaching forward with her free hand Elisabeth clicked out of the window on the laptop and closed it as Jonathan looked at Geoffrey. When the man turned to look at him, he leaned in and kissed him. There was a low growl into his mouth in response and the arm around his waist tightened before the other man pulled away from him, resting his forehead against his own.

“To a hundred more,” Geoffrey murmured, sounding somewhat lost.

“And a hundred more after,” Jonathan breathed.

Mary slipped around Geoffrey’s side to stand in front of him, resting her hands against his chest. She then rose up to kiss his cheek and the former hunter pulled away from Jonathan to lean into the touch. “A hundred more after that,” she whispered. “A thousand. However many it shall be.”

“We shall be together,” Elisabeth stated as if it was simply  _ so _ , as if set in stone. She moved to stand in front of Jonathan and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in close even as she reached out to touch Geoffrey’s arm. “Whether I am with you or Jonathan or Mary, it shall be  _ us _ .”

“I don’t deserve you lot.”

Jonathan chuckled and kissed the man on the cheek, saying, “Of course, you do. We are family.”

Geoffrey scoffed, “Even when I hate you all for hassling me sometimes?”

“That  _ is _ what family merely does,” Mary pointed out with a soft laugh.

He let out a huff of breath and then abruptly pulled them all in close by means of pulling Jonathan and Mary in towards his chest. Elisabeth came with Jonathan and the women laughed as they were crammed together, eventually sorting themselves out so their arms were around each other.

This... _ thing _ ...they had was nowhere near what Jonathan had expected a century ago when Geoffrey McCullum had shown up one night in 1920 on the little platform in his old office at the Pembroke and said  _ I’d like that ear now, leech. _ That night had been quite the interesting one and over time it had led them here, to  _ this. _

He would not trade this for anything. Not even the chance to be human again.

Not even  _ that _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who may ask, _yes_ , it is quite heavily hinted that all four of them are in a relationship together and just sort of...shuffle around. And, no, there is no Mary/Jonathan pairing in that dynamic, it's merely the Reid siblings having a _very good time_ with their handsome hunter and their sweet lass with red hair.


End file.
